Grant helps area teachers improve history instruction

Jan. 3, 2006

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's Department of History
has received a second Teaching American History Grant of nearly
$1 million to help teachers improve U.S. history instruction
in southwestern Michigan.

"This is a big grant, and we're one of only a handful
of institutions in the nation to have received it more than once,"
says Dr. Wilson Warren, WMU associate professor of history. "It's
truly a mark of distinction for the University."

The three-year grant is part of the "Teaching American
History Initiative" developed by West Virginia Sen. Robert
Byrd and administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The
goal of the initiative, which is in its fifth year, is to improve
the teaching of U.S. history at the elementary, middle and high
school levels.

WMU's first Teaching American History Grant, a three-year,
$986,000 award received in 2003, targets high school instruction
while this year's grant totals $993,000 over three years and
targets middle school instruction. The University won both grants
in partnership with KRESA--the Kalamazoo Regional Educational
Service Agency--and several Michigan public history institutions.

Warren, who is directing both grant projects, says they support
summer institutes for area teachers taught by WMU history faculty
as well as public history partners from the community. About
100 high school teachers will have participated in the institutes
when the first grant project concludes next summer. Another 75
middle school teachers are slated to participate in the three
institutes that will be funded under the 2005 grant.

Each summer, 25 to 30 teachers are selected to attend the
institutes, which are open to teachers interested in improving
their American history instruction. However, Warren notes that
with the new teacher qualification standards that require teachers
to be "highly qualified" under the No Child Left Behind
Act, emphasis is placed on enrolling teachers who are either
working on their certification in history or who have recently
started teaching history.

"This teaching method engages students in learning by
involving them in hands-on activities that focus on actual artifacts
from the historical time periods being taught rather than on
more traditional teaching methods such as lectures or worksheets,"
Warren explains.

"Too often, students see history as a catalog of facts
without much relevance. Authentic learning allows them to see
connections and develop critical thinking skills. They're able
to discover things for themselves--just like in science class
when they go into the laboratory and perform experiments."

WMU history faculty who will work on the 2005 grant project
along with Warren will be Professor John Saillant, Assistant
Professor Lynne Heasley and Associate Professor Mitch Kachun.

Partnering with the University from the community will be
historians and museum educators from the Kalamazoo Valley Museum
in Kalamazoo; Sojourner Truth Institute in Battle Creek, Mich.;
and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. Also involved are personnel
from KRESA and WMU's Department of Teaching Learning and Leadership.

The major community partner for the 2003 grant project is
KRESA. WMU history faculty working on the project in addition
to Warren are Associate Professor Nora Faires, Professor Fred
Dobney and Visiting Instructor Patricia Rogers.

Information about applying for the 2006 through 2008 summer
institutes for middle school teachers is available by calling
KRESA's Lynne Cowart, assistant superintendent for instruction,
at (269) 385-1500. For more information about the Teaching American
History Grant, contact Dr. Wilson Warren at (269) 387-4644 or
wilson.warren@wmich.edu.